Magical Realism In Japanese Literature

Japanese literature is one of the greatest literatures of the world, like English literature in age and varieties. The earliest full-length novel written in Japan was the famous The Tale of Genji in the eleventh century. In the Meiji era (1868-1912), the written and spoken language was advocated. In terms of poetry, translated foreign poems led to a “new-style” poetry movement. Authors such as Natsume Soseki had been educated in Germany and Britain, which led to their literary works being influenced by those countries. In 1968, Kawabata Yasunari became the first Japanese to win the Nobel Prize for literature, and in the last few years, works by the outstanding postwar-generation writers such as Haruki Murakami, Yoshimoto Banana have also gained

However, the combination of the supernatural and the dullness of normality can also be found in contemporary Japanese fiction such Norwegian Wood. Ida Mayer states that a careful literary analysis of authors like Murakami’s works, “particularly in relation to the narrative voice and a metaphorical interpretation of physical space, reveals an approach to the magical realism genre that centres on themes of isolation and dreaming” (Mayer, 2011, p.2). Mayer then argues that the main characters of Murakami and Yoshimoto’s novels are “poignantly isolated characters”, and as result the authors uses supernatural plot implementation to address these issues (Mayer, 2011, p.2). The characters in Murakami’s and Yoshimoto’s works are ones of emotional isolation. Mayer argues that the characters isolation is “caused by a perceived barrier between their private and public personae, with the magical events eventually acting as a bridging mechanism between those two spheres” (Mayer, 2011, pg.2). For this to happen, the characters should exist in a world outside of either the public or private sphere which means that Murakami and Yoshimoto attain this through dreams. “The juxtaposition of lonely isolation against supernatural occurrences locates dreams…intensifying the bonds between the metaphorical space of dreams and the real world issues facing many in contemporary Japan” (Mayer, 2011,